Advice Sought -- Running the Traveller Adventure

[gregcaires]

Apologies in advance -- I've tried using the search engine to find posts on this subject but it returned so many items it wasn't useful.

So that said, any and all advice regarding how to best run this adventure (over a multi-session period, I'm not attempting it all in one go) would be very helpful.

Thanks in advance.

Greg

 

[mike wightman]

The Traveller Adventure is a great adventure, with opportunities for side plots, patron initiated encounters, random encounters and the main adventure itself.

The only thing wrong with it is the ridiculous premiss made by the first adventure - that your group of PCs will go to the aid of a completely unknown NPC Vargr, assist him in breaking into a museum to steal an artefact he claims is his, and then finally sneaking him off world by putting a fake moustache on him.

It really is the worst bit of the adventure.

Another criticism is that some of it can be a bit railroady in places, but overall the good outweighs the bad.

 

[Supplement Four]

Yes, I've run it a few times. Well, more than a few times. I love the adventure. But, a key mystery is the brooch that the players steal from the library. I always try to come up with creative ways to get the players interested in breaking into the library.

My most successful attempt involved starting the players who had just come together after one of them lucked into a subsidy for the March Harrier and her route from Oberlindes. I made this a Muster Out benefit for one of the PCs. If they rolled a "ship", then that person was the actual person with the connection and had landed the subsidy.

As we started play, the group had no Navigator. I made Gvoudzon a Navigator, and while play, through role play, the players hired him (and a new player joined the game). I brought this second player in on game night two, and I prepped him by telling him how fixated his character is on this broach.

It was through the roleplaying of this new player that he convinced the rest of the group that something was fishy about the broach. Then, I hammed it up with Erneri Giilaan came calling--the Naval Intelligence guy.

All that together convinced the players that they could break into the museum, grab the broach, and get out--and no one would be the wiser (we actually ended up having a running fight to the starport where the March Harrier blasted out of orbit just ahead of the local police).

The biggest push to break the subsidy route wasn't a profit motive, as in the adventure. It was the desire for the crew to stay ahead of the all-points-bulletin that went out ordering law enforcement to seize the ship and hold it for the local Marquis of Aramis.

We had a great time.

Of course, every time I've run the Traveller Adventure, I've enjoyed it.

My games always go off in wild directions. I play off the players. Let them control their destinies (to a point!). So, I've yet to have the Traveller Adventure be played the same way twice.

 

[Dulinor]

The only thing wrong with it is the ridiculous premiss made by the first adventure - that your group of PCs will go to the aid of a completely unknown NPC Vargr, assist him in breaking into a museum to steal an artefact he claims is his, and then finally sneaking him off world by putting a fake moustache on him.

It really is the worst bit of the adventure.

I wholeheartedly agree.
Has anyone come with a good way to fix this (besides making the aforementioned Vargr (can't recall his name) a PC) ?

 

[aramis]

I wholeheartedly agree.
Has anyone come with a good way to fix this (besides making the aforementioned Vargr (can't recall his name) a PC) ?

Have Gvoudzon coerce a vargr PC...

 

[Orr]

Has anyone come with a good way to fix this (besides making the aforementioned Vargr (can't recall his name) a PC) ?

In other threads on the subject, posters have suggested making a PC owe the Vargr a personal debt of some sort, having the PCs work for a collector who wants the broach for other reasons, or having the PCs buy the broach before the museum does.

Many earlier suggestions involve not having the broach in the museum at all.

 

[Dulinor]

Have Gvoudzon coerce a vargr PC...

Ir obviously won't work if none of the PCs are Vargr...

 

[rancke]

Ir obviously won't work if none of the PCs are Vargr...

Nor if the player is not prepared to be bullied. I've known players like that. Indeed, I am to some extent a player like that.


Hans

 

[gregcaires]

My son's character is now a "friend of the Vargr" and has a discrete scar on his cheek in the Vargr language promoting him as such [I have no idea if anything like this is canon, so lets say IMTU in advance]. He got that honor during "One Crowded Hour" where he first (impulsively) jumped into a crawl space to help the Vargr engineer find a hull leak and prevent it from becoming a breach. Then he later tried to save the life of said engineer outside the hull, but could only recover the body-less head, still in its shattered vaccsuit helmet. The Vargr medic gave him the scar out of respect.

As the March Harrier is their reward from a previous adventure they don't need the pay attention to the subsidy routes -- they can go wherever they please. Maxos Lines owes them for helping save (as much as possible) the Duchese Selene, so perhaps I can weave Maxos as subsidiary of Oberlindes.

If I get figure out the best way to start the adventure (the aforesaid "steal from a museum to help a Vargr you've never met and risk your ship and subsidy) I think the rest of the campaign works well. Are there any other pitfalls amongst the various episodes to be aware of and think of how to work around?

Thanks, Greg

 

[aramis]

Nor if the player is not prepared to be bullied. I've known players like that. Indeed, I am to some extent a player like that.


Hans

Anyone unwilling to accept the psychology of a vargr shouldn't be playing a vargr. Part of that is that is that another vargr making credible threats and/or inning at infighting is "literally" superior both socially and militarily, no matter what his uniform may say.

 

[rancke]

Anyone unwilling to accept the psychology of a vargr shouldn't be playing a vargr.

True, but what would it help Gvouzdon to bully a fellow Vargr if the human members of the group refuse to play along.


Also...

Part of that is that is that another vargr making credible threats and/or inning at infighting is "literally" superior both socially and militarily, no matter what his uniform may say.

Humans have been known to resent and resist being bullied by superiors, social or military; I see no reason why someone playing a Vargr shouldn't play a Vargr with similar sentiments.


Hans

 

[aramis]

True, but what would it help Gvouzdon to bully a fellow Vargr if the human members of the group refuse to play along.

It turns it into a 2 vargr job. Still better than him trying by himself.

 

[rancke]

It turns it into a 2 vargr job. Still better than him trying by himself.

No, it turns it into a job where the Vargr PC has to choose between the wishes of himself and his friends and the wishes of a stranger.


Hans

 

[Baron]

For what it's worth, I agree with Aramis. The Vargr dominance routine is part of their genetics. A dominant NPC should be able to overbear the lesser Vargr into obeying. Maybe after being separated for a while, he could try to escape. But the beaten dogs obey the alpha.

If the player doesn't like that, they should play a human.

 

[rancke]

For what it's worth, I agree with Aramis. The Vargr dominance routine is part of their genetics. A dominant NPC should be able to overbear the lesser Vargr into obeying. Maybe after being separated for a while, he could try to escape. But the beaten dogs obey the alpha.

There are so many things I disagree with in that.

1) I believe that a fundamental aspect of intelligence is the ability to overcome instinctual behavior. Humans certainly do it.

2) Charisma isn't a magic wand that casts a spell of obedience on another Vargr. If the referee believes it is, I certainly wouldn't want to play a Vargr in his campaign.

3) Gvouzdon's charisma is not necessarily higher than out hypothetical Vargr PC's charisma. Even if it is, situational modifiers would apply. (e.g. I don't like being bullied, I don't like commiting grand theft, my human friends agree with me).

4) Gvouzdon isn't the Vargr PC's alpha. At best he's some other pack's alpha. (There's another situational modifier: My own alpha don't want me to cause trouble for the pack and him).

If the player doesn't like that, they should play a human.

Or he should play his character the way HE thinks Vargr characters work.


Hans

 

[Baron]

Hans,

Actually it sounds to me like you're saying the player should get to play a human in a rubber suit.

If you play an alien like a human, then why play the alien at all? For the ears?

And in my games, the player plays a nonhuman the way *I* think they should be played.

 

[aramis]

Hans,

Actually it sounds to me like you're saying the player should get to play a human in a rubber suit.

If you play an alien like a human, then why play the alien at all? For the ears?

And in my games, the player plays a nonhuman the way *I* think they should be played.

I deleted my response to Hans because Baron here said it better and far more politely.

 

[rancke]

Actually it sounds to me like you're saying the player should get to play a human in a rubber suit.

If that's what makes him happy, why not?

But no, what I'm saying is that I don't agree with Wil's interpretation of how to play Vargr. Not that it really matters (see below).

If you play an alien like a human, then why play the alien at all? For the ears?

Sure, why not, if it makes the player happy?

And in my games, the player plays a nonhuman the way *I* think they should be played.

Which, at least in the case of my gaming group, would result in no Vargr PCs for Gvouzdon to bully, rendering Wil's suggestion moot.

It's really very simple. Some players resent (their characters) being bullied. If playing a Vargr means having to put up with being bullied, such players should not play Vargr. If playing a Vargr does not mean having to put up with being bullied, a player does not have to put up with being bullied even if he is playing a Vargr. Either way, such players would render Wil's advice useless. Which was my original point.


Hans

 

[aramis]

If that's what makes him happy, why not?

But no, what I'm saying is that I don't agree with Wil's interpretation of how to play Vargr. Not that it really matters (see below).


Sure, why not, if it makes the player happy?


Which, at least in the case of my gaming group, would result in no Vargr PCs for Gvouzdon to bully, rendering Wil's suggestion moot.

Which, for me, would be better by far than someone playing a Vargr as a fur-bearing human.

My players have always risen to the challenge of playing aliens, including the requirement (which is present in AM 3) of making and obeying reaction rolls rather than substituting player whim.

 

[rancke]

Which, for me, would be better by far than someone playing a Vargr as a fur-bearing human.

You still haven't explained why playing a Vargr as a Vargr would automatically force a Vargr PC to commit a serious crime for the sake of a strange Vargr regardless of charisma and other consideration.

My players have always risen to the challenge of playing aliens...

How very nice for you.

...including the requirement (which is present in AM 3) of making and obeying reaction rolls rather than substituting player whim.

I think that having a player role-play a Vargr as a proper Vargr would be better than relying on die roll mechanics. But that's just me. Just as a matter of curiosity, what would be the die rolls involved in Gvouzdon getting a Vargr PC to help him steal his broach?


Hans